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With the new changes to the guard quality, it seems that the Zweihander is strictly inferior to the Claymore for anyone with Greatsword Basics. Is this intended or should the feat increase any existing guard bonus like Shield Supremacy does? The change is intentional and your reading is correct. Not all weapons work equally well for all characters with all training. "When you weild a greatsword, it gains guard +2, or its existing guard value increases by +2" is however a perfectly acceptable alteration should you feel the need. When you pay Reputation to purchase a magic item, do you still have to pay the sp cost of item itself especially if it has upgrades upgrades? It's spelt out in the example: once something's magicked up, all you're paying is the Reputation. Any associated monetry cost is, strictly speaking, GM fiat but is generally understood to be written off (likely to the standard upkeep that eats away your cash every time you level). Does the Class Enhancement essence work like Virtues of Command, in that it boosts existing class abilities that are based on class level, or does it solely grant the next level's class ability? I would rule that it does both. What threat level do contacts have — the same as the players, or the other npcs? "Threat Level" always refers to that of the adventure unless specifically noted. So yes, contacts are affected by the Menace level of an adventure. That can work for or against the PCs, but puts them on equal footing with other NPCs running around. "Contacts may help with Downtime checks but may not make Downtime checks of their own". Does this mean that a player can use his contact's crafting feats to improve his own crafting checks during a downtime? No... it means contacts can assist in skill checks or provide use of class abilities. At no point can a character let another character use his feats unless he has an ability which specifically allows him to do so. Is there supposed to be a Beast upgrade for weapons, as there is for armour? The description for Beasts still includes "It can only use armor, handheld gear, and non-natural weapons specifically modified for its use." There is not a Beast upgrade for weapons at this time. Beast is a big drawback for characters in terms of Origin design. Just to be certain, the party as a single entity (and not each individual member) roles for treasure after combat, right? Correct. It seems rather unfair on Large characters to have to use weapons designed for a Medium-sized person to avoid the penalty for changing weapon scale, and for Small characters to be unable to avoid it altogether. First off, divorce the idea weapon scale must match the size of the character using it. The only rule that matters is the weapon's size must not exceed the character's size. Thus, a Pech can use the exact same pistol or broadsword as a human, with no penalties, because their size is equal to or less than his own — you don't need to down-scale the weapon so it will fit the Pech's hands or whatever. The only time the Pech has to down-scale a weapon is when he wants to use a halberd or zweihander or whatever. From a rules perspective, and the actual game environment, the baseline of gear assumes it's a Medium Folk's world. Most of our species are Medium Folk, as in nearly all fantasy environments, and the outliers are the exceptions rather than the rule. If someone's going to suffer a penalty it should always be the smallest possible segment. This is about maintaining balance. Big characters with bigger weapons are getting bigger damage (the god-king of all weapon value) so it is absolutely fair to increase erorr range from a game balance perspective, because otherwise you get Medium-sized min-maxers upscaling every Small weapon to break damage scales as often as they can. Big characters can use Medium sized weapons just fine if they want to avoid the penalty - there's no minimum size on weapons they can use so they are really spoiled for choice (including having the options of using light cannon!). On the other end, in the metagame, Small characters will likely only downsize really powerful or feature laden melee weapons, where either the damage code reduction is counteracted either by the remaining features or the damage remains higher than other, unscaled, weapons with comparable features. For instance, you're unlikely to see Small-scaled doubleswords, because the damage ends up equal to an unscaled short sword or less than a cutlass or longsword (all of which a Small character can use without adjustment). But a Small scale claymore, which has many attractive features like reach, increased threat range and a downscaled damage that's still quite good, could well be worth it. It's all a balancing act, but in the end the "smart" Small character just chooses the right weapon for his size that has the features and the damage he wants and goes from there — in most cases the Pech "greatsword" will end up being that unscaled longsword. With that said, feel free to ignore the error range penalty at your home games if you feel like it. We have inserted it for balance and the baseline, but if you are less concerned with that, go right on ahead and ignore us. What's the rationale for the magic item discounts? Balance. It all comes down to what you can hold onto. A magic effect that does not require you to use a specific weapon, or that flatly grants its benefit to all types of actions or attacks you make, is patently better than one you don't. Note how effects on magic items are scripted — a ring granting a bonus to melee damage, for example, would affect every melee attack you make, whereas a weapon with that same essence would only gain the damage bonus for attacks with that weapon. We were trying to making a magic item that you can't take with you (immobile altar) or that have an opportunity cost (such as armour or a 2 handed item) not be paraiahs in the system compared to rings and the like. The discount reflects that and also makes magic items far more accessible than if the costs were all unadjusted. Does the "virtual" damage added by keen apply to the damage total (and therefore the calculated save DC) of an attack that also possesses the bleed quality? Can it? I guess. Should it? I'd say no, as bleeding is pretty deadly in FC relative to 2.0, and making bleed more common means more rapidly debilitated special characters (including PCs). The reasonably low DC matters when you have a PC who's getting hit by a bleed weapon on average of 1-2 times a round in melee combat... Does it? No, not per the RAW. Does a character automatically remove the bleeding condition if they have bandages? Or are bandages a required item to have before attempting the Medicine roll? Using a bandage on a character removes the bleeding condition, no medicine check needed. Does Thick Hide stack with DR gained from charms or essences on magic items? Armor never stacks. Thick hide is armor, just like anything you wear. DR from other sources stack. What TL are normal mounts? I was thinking of making them the same TL as the Animal Partner feat. Set by the TL of the adventure. While most creatures that can serve as mount run from the mid 40s to just shy of 80XP in value, the key thing to remember is that Animal Partners are Special NPCs while mounts are standard: far less durable. Their XP values don't increase like an Animal Partner's would, either. Do the upscale and downscale upgrades affect range increments for hurled weapons and bows? No. Though this is another situation where applying the Small and Large size modifier to wounds from species talents when determing rnage would make a perfectly acceptable house rule. Do those who do not 'need' to eat still benefit from such things as Booze, Hearty Meals, Comfort Food, etc? One of those GM discretion things again, based on the specifics of the setting. I'd say in most cases no, personally. A construct has no means of processing food and drink, an outsider is simply an embodiment of an ideal. If a player has an upgraded item of gear in play, then wants to add further upgrades, is the pricing for the 2nd lot of upgrades based on the original item, the purchase price of the upgraded item or the default 50% resale price of the upgraded item? I would certainly not allow it on the resale price of the item (because then you'd just buy the item, wait a few days, then upgrade at half cost). I would base this on the base value of the item to prevent any weirdness (since you normally upgrade as a 100% + upgrades % cost throughout). Do feats and tricks acquired by magic items require the user to meet all prerequisites as if they were taking the feat? At my table the answer would be yes: it grants a temporary feat. Page 84 states that you must meet all prerequisites for temporary feats for them to be effective. That said, there may be narrative reasons to ignore this. Why can't magic items grant gear feats? Do the RAW allow for magic items to grant feats other than those listed on the chart given? It's not that they can't — it's that they don't, most likely because it didn't make sense to at the time. That may well change with (the forthcoming) Gear for the Ages. The system does not currently allow for granting feats outside that table due to the rules of common sense being applied. It's easy enough to add ones you're OK with at your table. What's the difference between partial padded armour and a full length coat when it comes to determining cost for magic items? One's armour and one's not? If the coat is not armour (and thus not preventing the wearer from wearing other armour), it does not get a discount for being armour. A coat that is not armor is basically the same as a ring, crown, or anything else that can be worn without taking your "armor slot" or using up a hand — that's the only reason a discount is ever given. There is a special call out that Unborn can have armor built into / modified onto their form. But there does not appear to be a benefit to doing this. Are we missing something? There is no inherent benefit beyond any narrative story/combat implications, except that in most cases it logically would not be able to be unequipped. The callout is there to specifically illustrate that this doesn't get you anything beyond the obvious. Is there a reason there is no Beast modifier under Goods in the Gear section? Also, is the Kit/Armor/Weapon Beast modifier supposed to be 200%? That means a drake's mage pouch is 60s! They can't even afford any DR granting armor after that. Since drakes don't have thumbs in Fantasy Craft they can't use gear that requires gripping or fine manipulation. That neatly omits pretty much all of the Goods section. Also, yes, the beast modifier is intended to be 200%. Pretty much everything has be custom-constructed for drakes and this price incorporates both the labor and, frankly, increased cost of materials involved. Of course, you're encouraged to make any modifications to the system to taste, though these are in fact intended rules to adequately simulate our vision of drakes as a playable class, and to help balance them against other options. Other than the footnote to Table 4.17 on p 174 I can't seem to find anything on barding. Am I to assume that other than adjustments to Size the values for barding aren't any different from those given for humanoid armor? The old, pre-errata rules for barding were rolled into size increases/decreasing, on account of them being identical (or at least very nearly so). (So your answer is "Yes") "Each Charm can be applied as many times as there are unique details for it." Does that mean that I, for example, could pick the Attribute Bonus Charm, and have it apply to all 6 attributes, while still 'counting' as one charm? Similarly, how about Spell Effects? Each iteration of a Charm with a variable (e.g. Attribute Boost (Strength)) is considered a seperate Charm for purposes of the total number of effects an item can support. No choosing multiple attributes and calling it one Attribute Boost charm. That way lies madness. The cost of Reputation goes out of control, and people start to jam dozens of Level 1 spells into a single Spell Effect charm and call it a magic item. Not the intent at all. So Attribute Training (Str) and Att Training (Con) would be 2 Charms, and thus require Greater Magic Items, Flexible Magic Items, or be an artifact to gain them. What does the Aligned quality do to weapons and character attacks? Are Aligned weapons subject to spells like Protection from Alignment? Aligned weapons interlock with things affected by Aligned attacks. So outsiders with an opposing Alignment would take +2 damage from an Aligned weapon, and characters using Protection from Alignment would be defended from that weapon's damage. Which sword type on the weapons list most accurately reflects a scimitar? Use the sabre. For a point of reference, the USMC Officer's sword, is most actually a scimitar. Would the Quick Draw feat aalow you to ready a Load 7 weapon in one and a half rounds? Yes. Round One: Two free Handle Item actions from Quick Draw, then two more from your regular half actions makes 4; Round Two: Your two free actions, then one half makes another three, for a total of 7. How do I determine carrying capacity for strength above 25? As I read it, it's the same for Str 26-30, then 31-35. 26 is 21 x 2, 27 is 22 x 2, etc. For each +5, you multiply by 2. Is there any reason why the Favoured Gear chain was scripted in such a fashion that it apparantly doesn't work with armour? Yes, there is: benefits to active abilites are limited by time (2 half-actions/1 full action per round) while bonuses to passive benfits are not. This is exactly the distinction that made hook work fine (bonus to active ability) and guard blow into a million tiny peices before errata. Favoured Gear benefits active abilites. What you are asking about is a benfit to passive abilites, and while both can come from gear, boosting one of them is FAR more danagerous than the other. Expect something like Favored Armour to appear in Gear for the Ages, as that's the perfect home for it. Do ranged weapons with the lure quality need to be thrown to make a Ranged Feint? Do Throwing Knives count as Knife Weapons? The answer to both questions is no; as a corollary even though they possess hurled, daggers are still treated as Knives (and thus melee weapons). It's worth noting however that some very similar tricks in the Adventure Companion do use 1 shot, though I'd definitely allow returning to work. Is there an upgrade one can build into a black powder weapon (rifle) to reduce the loading speed? Not yet. The Bandolier + Quick Draw will reduce your Load by 4, which is damn fast, though. When crafting/buying magic gear with the Charm Spell Effect, are 0 level spells free and unlimited or not allowed? Treat them as Level 1 for the purposes of cost and other derivatives — just as you would when costing out a similar magic item. If you finish an adventure that ends in a climactic battle earning your party enough XP to level up, do you get to apply your new, upgraded Prudence score towards your "take home earnings" from the battle/adventure? Depends on your GM, if they say you can level and apply it, then you can. This one of those calls that is dependent on the GM or the gaming group you play with. Your Dungeon, your dragon, your way. When applying vehicle upgrades to holdings, such as Agile and Powered, do you use coin or reputation? I would always go with Reputation, so as to avoid crossing those streams. Blending the economies gets... complicated. The Vault room for holdings says it can store Prizes; would that allow my players to store excess prizes or do the prizes stored there still count against their prize limit? The Vault room in a holding is a safe (or at least safer) place that you can store some extra magic items. The benefit is that the GM can't just casually steal them, but instead needs to have or create an NPC or group that is capable of getting past your holding's defenses. It also makes it a little safer for you because you're less likely to be interrupted by the Dread Pirate Roberts while out adventuring. Instead he'll just try to take your stuff out of your vault while you're away. It's not really a long term solution for prize management, but if you were already at your prize limit, having a vault in your holding might let you hang on to your current prizes and still keep the famous Singing Sword of Elven Kings that you just found on your last adventure. At least until you can get your renown up. Assuming your GM is in a generous mood. And even if not, that means you were robbed by the Dread Pirate Roberts! How cool is that!? Ultimately, how secure a Vault is in your game is really a matter of world, story, your group and table dynamics, and your GM's preference. I'd probably only breach a Vault specifically to move the story along, and only when it felt like the best call for the long game. I'd also give the players plenty of chances to regain their stuff, because stealing from the party without compensating cool in terms of adventure and other possible upgrades is just mean. Besides the spell Fly I, I don't see anywhere that describes heavy armor/load interfering with winged flying. Am I just missing it? Heavy Load's "and you move at only 1/2 Speed (rounded up)" and Armor's "a penalty applied to the wearer’s Speed (to a minimum of 5 ft.)." applies to ALL modes of movement, including Flight, with the exception of the spell which acts a little differently because it isn't normal movement, its a spell. Its very short term so it can be slightly better than normal movement modes. You still apply armor speed reduction as the spell says nothing about making an exception for armor as it does for Load as according to the Flyer Mobility section for NPCs on page 227, flying characters use Acrobatics to make maneuver checks. Use the modifiers from the Maneuver chart for making the acrobatics and athletics checks. The only ones that seem relevant to a flying character are break fall, jump, and push limit. Jump specifically cannot be used while wearing full armor or carrying a heavy load. If jump is intended to be the limiting factor on how fast a flying character can gain altitude, then it would stand to reason that it cannot be done at all with a heavy load. Are we stacking the poison DC upgrades? I would assume that you can't combine Potent and Virulent to get a +12 DC but I don't see that written. The intent with those is that each represents a single category of poison virulence, so per the intent of the RAW they shouldn't stack. If you want higher DC poisons, we recommend you simply add new upgrades with higher DC mods. Keep in mind, of course, that should you do this you're hedging toward truly lethal poisons, which may or may not be your cup of tea. It's something you should only approach with eyes wide open. If I craft three rings with the same temporary feat (e.g. Armor Basics), would those rings stack to produce Armor Mastery and Armor Supremacy? Yes — it is a standard rule that if you are granted a feat you already possess you instead gain a different feat from the same category. Also, sonsider the investment to have enough renown ranks to hold on to three prizes (in addition to the cost of the prizes themselves), and the costs are commiserate with the gain. Do armor (and presumably other items as well) add their Size/Thickness damage save bonus to their Construction bonus? No. Those are two separate processes. The idea is that if an item has a listed bonus, you use it. If it doesn't, the Size/Thickness formula is there for you to figure the bonus out on your own. Can an artifact possess three different class abilities? Temporary feats do not fulfill prerequisites but what about feats granted via the class ability essence, especially since they can't be lost as long as the hero is attuned to the artifact? Do spellcasting skill ranks gained by a charm on an artifact also provide additional spells? There is no particular restriction in the RAW prohibiting multiple (different) versions of the same Charm or Essence. However, none of those class abilities may grant bonus feats, which are specifically not allowed on magic items. The list is specifically restricted on purpose. I would rule feats granted by magic items temporary for this purpose (they would not fulfill requirements).Similarly, Spellcasting ranks do not grant additional known spells. General rule of thumb: the only things that act like character options are character options. If you want to increase a derived value or gain extra character benefit from an option, choose it through your Origin, class, or a character feat. Do not lean on magic items and outside forces to gain these benefits. Melee weapons can do upward of 2d6, yet a long bow and heavy crossbow only do 1d6, albeit with a greater crit range. Would it ruin things too much if I upped it to 1d8? Take a look at the amount of AP bows rack up before deciding to change the die code. Also weigh the bow feat tree in your decision. Together, they bring a a hefty amount of "Armour? You have no armour!" to the fight so even though they only do 1d6, it's always going to be 1d6. Unlike the melee weapon which can be doing 1d10-4 (due to armour), it's consistent damage. Complexity is described as "A number from 1 to 50 noting the skill required to craft the item (see page 72), and a letter code indicating the minimum amount of continuous Downtime needed to craft the item (D for 1 day, W for 1 week, M for 1 month, or Y for 1 year)". How do I read this value? They are different values presentd together for the sake of brevity. For example, an item with Complexity of 12M = Crafting DC 12, minimum Downtime of 1 Month to create. Further, the first paragraph under Build Or Improve Object on page 72 says you can make items with a Complexity less than or equal to your total crafting bonus plus your level. So at level 3, to make an astrolabe you need a minimum Crafting bonus (Ranks + Int bonus and other mods) of +9 to make up a value of 12. Feats and other character options can increase your bonus, letting you craft more. When you make the Crafting check, use the chart at the top of page 73: although you can't fail this roll, you'll only have created the astrolabe if the amount silver value in the Month column exceeds its value. Otherwise, you'll need another month and another roll. Can the species armour upgrade be used by any species or is it confined to the species in question? GMs should feel free to set any limits they like on individual types of gear, but such descriptions are generally meant to imply "made using specialist techniques favoured by species", not "exclusive to species". 100 x Class level in silver doesn't go around much does it? I saw no listing for clothing. Is it basically hand waved? Also, what does a Ration's 7 actually cover? Actually, most stuff isn't charged for: if you look at the list almost everything there has a mechanical effect. Anyone who wants a backpack has one — if they want the special frame pack that gives them a bonus to carrying, that's what the pack on the list represents. Similarly, in the Adventure Companion the settings have a table where they list typical dress for different lifestyles; looking at appearance bonus and overall lifestyle isn't a bad idea if what you wear becomes important. Handwave what you don't care about. An individual 'Ration' feeds one character for a day -- it vastly simplifies bookkeeping. How exactly does the aligned weapon quality work? By itself, the aligned quality doesn't do much of anything. An outsider inflicts +2 damage against those with an opposing alignment, but doesn't take any extra damage as written from a weapon with an opposing alignment. A weapon might also have a spell that keys off from alignment. You could design your creatures so that they have a defense like DR10/Good or give them achilles heel (Good) so that good aligned attacks are more effective against them. With the Massive quality's "a smaller opponent who’s struck with the weapon must make a successful Fortitude save", what does 'smaller' mean? Size 'S' or something else? I've run this as being in a smaller size category than the character wielding the axe rather than the size of the weapon. It's the easiest way I've found to run it. Is it correct that there are no DP or ACP penalties for using shields? Yes. If your chosen fighting style leaves you with a hand free, using a shield is pretty much a no-brainer. Would it break anything if I changed the Finesse quality to affect the attack rather than damage check? Is there a feat or something I haven't come across that allows you to use Dex modifier to attack instead of the Str modifier? The Deft Swing trick in the Adventure Companion is one of several attribute-substituting tricks that in this case lets you use Dex instead of Str to attack, but it requires a minimum Strength of 13 and a forte with the weapon type being used, and is obviously a trick so you can't use other tricks to modify the attack. Martial Arts/Master's Art lets you use your chosen attribute for unarmed attack and damage rolls. This was all designed to minimise d20's treating of Dexterity as more or less a "god-stat". If I were making a damage save vs damage of 9 against Soft Leather (Construction: Soft 2) would I roll 1d20+5 v DC 14? What does the 2 in 'Soft 2' mean? The 2 means that it needs to fail 2 saves to be wrecked. 9 damage vs. soft leather, the Leather gets a damage save of d20+5(soft)+6(medium-Size) vs DC 14. If it fails, it's still functional but just needs one more failed save to wreck it. Per pg 173 Armour is always the same size category of the wearer, so I've assumed medium - the bonuses are on the same table, lower down. }} Categrory:AnswersCategory:Fantasy Craft